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Footage has emerged showing the moment a Sydney, Australia beach party on Christmas Day turned violent.

The footage uploaded to Facebook shows a woman dressed in black pushing a police officer as around 300 revelers were dispersed from a beach party on Christmas day.

The police officer in the video retaliates against the woman who pushed him by shoving her so hard she is thrown to the ground about a yard away.

Another girl reacts by lashing out at the officer and she is also thrown to the ground.

A third girl in white is also pushed on to the road.

The footage shows anger growing among the crowd as police start pepper spraying people. Shortly thereafter bottles are thrown at the police.

Police officers arrived in the area just before 3 p.m. after seeing an unauthorized beach party in a designated alcohol-free zone.

Two women, one a UK national and the other from Ireland, were arrested after allegedly hitting police officers with bottles. They have since been charged with assaulting police.

“My officers were on the receiving end of some alcohol-fueled violence and it was dealt with swiftly in order to bring the matter under control,” police superintendent Karen McCarthy told reporters on Tuesday.

“The people at the party were intoxicated, they were obviously in a festive mood and the majority of people were compliant with police actions, however, there was a small, isolated incident.”

The video posted on Facebook shows at least four women being pushed to the ground, including two who landed on the road, as officers doused others with pepper spray.

But McCarthy insists the incident was handled appropriately.

“Police deployed appropriate tactics in order to deal with the alcohol-fueled violence and bring the matter safely under control,” she said. “The people were in contravention of the alcohol-free zone and we simply took swift action to move the people from the area and get them onto safe transport home.”

Randwick City Council Mayor Lindsay Shurey praised the police response to the “drunken beach party.”

“The police response shut down the party very quickly and helped prevent any serious accidents or major injuries amongst the highly intoxicated revelers,” Shurey said in a statement on Tuesday.

“I condemn the behavior of those backpackers who attacked and assaulted police by throwing bottles – this is un-Australian.”

The Sydney beach was not the only one to be targeted for celebrations, with an estimated 5,000 people gathering at Melbourne’s St. Kilda foreshore on Christmas Day and leaving a huge amount of trash behind.

St Kilda: Foreshore trashed during wild Christmas party. Cans, bottles and rubbish stretch for hundreds of metres. A team of twenty council workers are working to clean the area. Neighbours furious. @DavidWoiwod#7Newspic.twitter.com/mMLIbbkFMa

Stephen Minshaw, who was injured, said police were hitting people with batons as they tried to leave the area.

“I don’t get why the police needed to use force,” he told the Seven Network. “We’re backpackers, we’re not going to … fight back against them.” He denied the party had become out of hand.

Other social media users responded to the footage by labeling the police response as “unnecessarily violent,” “ridiculous” and going “way too far.” A police spokeswoman said she wasn’t able to comment on the videos or police tactics.

Five council workers were needed to help clean up the trash scattered across the beach, streets and nearby nature areas. In total, 40 trash bags were filled up during the cleanup efforts.

Significant police resources were called in to disperse the crowd in Melbourne on Monday, with operations blocking off two lanes of traffic and causing disruption to local residents.

A 27-year-old man was taken to the hospital after he was hit by a tram and a 27-year-old woman was hospitalized for intoxication. Two people were also arrested for being drunk in a public place and several people also suffered injuries from broken glass left scattered across the ground.

Victoria Police inspector Jason Kelly said that while the overall behavior of revelers was generally OK, some of the behavior showed a lack of respect.

“What really disappointing Victoria Police is the level of intoxication that occurred here tonight, as evidenced by the amount of rubbish left behind,” Kelly said.

“It’s very disappointing, it’s not acceptable.”

He said no drinking was allowed on the foreshore after 8 p.m. and a new council by-law prohibiting drinking on the streets and beach would be enforced moving forward.